Dr. Tracy Farone - Veternarian To The Bees (S5, E12)

Dr. Tracy Farone, joins us in this episode. Tracy is a veterinarian, a professor of biology at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, a board member of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium, a beekeeper and a regular contributor to Bee Culture magazine. Veterinarians, you will hear her say, were brought into the beekeeping world because of the diseases bees face and the potential for antimicrobial resistance.

It's been a change the industry has had to face. It was not all that long ago, products such as Terramycin™ (oxcytetracycline) was found on farm store shelves and beekeepers were directed to use it in the treatment of American Foulbrood. It was also occasionally suggested to use it as a dusting on the top bars of brood frames to prophylactically prevent AFB. With the rise of antibiotic resistant varieties of diseases, the unprescribed use these medications has been stopped and now available for use on animals and livestock only under the prescription of a veterinarian.

"I understand why beekeepers want to do what they've always been doing, but they're facing more and more bee health problems. It would be good to get veterinarians on board." she said. "We can contribute here. We can provide so much more than a prescription or VFD to the industry. If we can blend veterinary medical expertise within the beekeeping industry, it's not just an arranged marriage, but a marriage where we can help each other."

This is a fascinating discussion and one you will not want to miss.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Honey Bee Veternarian Consortium - https://www.hbvc.org
• Grove City College Bees - https://www.gccbeeproject.com/
• HBVC Talk with Beekeeping Today Podcast - https://www.beekeepingtodaypodcast.com/the-honey-bee-veterinary-consortium-with-allie-and-britteny-s3-e15/
• Bee Culture October Event: Inspiring Leaders in Beekeeping - https://www.beeculture.com/beeing-diverse-inspiring-leaders-in-beekeeping/
• Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC